Applying Texture/fabric to an object? Photoshop. Please Help

[Laura]

Okay, I'm trying to help someone in the textile industry. They have some different swatches of fabric in different patterns they would like applied to a comforter they are going to have made. They went to some company that does this, and for 4 images, they wanted $6,000!!! I've used photoshop for a long time, so I figured that I could find out how to apply it and help them out.

I researched online and I found a couple plugins but they were kind of pricey!!

It's some sort of mapping... I've just never had to map something. If I had a logo to put on a shirt, I just stretched it to make it look like it hugged the contours. I can't really do that when I'm putting these patterns on a whole comforter/pillow/bed set!

Anyone have any tips, or free or close to cheap plugins that I can use? I really appreciate any tips/help I can get!!

PS:
Here are some examples of what I'm talking about.
http://www.clicdesign.com/Products/PDF/ ... perPro.pdf
http://www.photoshoproadmap.com/Photosh ... -tutorial/

[krisvahl]

I think the best way to do it would be to use Photoshop CS's Liquify filter. You would separate and tile the pattern into different sections of the comforter (front, side etc), roughly distort them as best you can with the transform tools to contour a particular area, then use liquify to fine tune the warping to match the lounge's contours. It wouldn't be real world accurate but it would come pretty close.

Another harder, more involved method would be to model a 3d comforter in a 3D program, render and texture it (making sure the texture is applied on a separate layer) at the same angle of the photo, then overlay the distorted texture to the photo. This would give the most accurate results.

I can see why they are charging so much (and I would charge the same given a similar job). It's a lot of work. It's not as simple as a one click filter unfortunately, as a computer isn't smart enough to work out a piece of furniture's contours just by giving it a photo and clicking a button.

Good luck.

[Laura]

Chris,

Thank you so much for taking a moment to offer your advice, I've seen you around here and I really respect you as an artist. I really want this to look as nice as possible, so I think I am going to try the 3D model, the extra work would be worth it for this project.

Thank you,
-Laura